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Posted May 25th, 2011 by Robert Drago
A new study for the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) estimates that Philadelphia’s proposed paid sick days legislation would cost employers between $350 million and $752 million annually. Both the factual basis and the assumptions underlying this study are seriously flawed. The totals derive from two presumed costs: the amount for new paid sick [...]
Posted May 9th, 2011 by Robert Drago
Every few years, we get a recycling of old explanations for women’s underrepresentation in traditionally male fields, and these inevitably circle around babies and biology. Either women “just want to have kids,” so cannot hold down serious jobs, or women are wired to be less capable in certain fields. Most recently, these arguments were recycled [...]
Posted March 18th, 2011 by Robert Drago
Is it that men tend to engage in reckless behavior while women are more cautious in the face of risk? A new poll shows that women in the U.S. are much less inclined than men to build new nuclear facilities in the country in the wake of the current Japanese crisis. Why would someone build [...]
Posted March 11th, 2011 by Robert Drago
Cross posted from IWPR A year ago today, the District of Columbia legalized same-sex marriage, and according to the Washington Post, the number of marriages soared from 3,100 in the year prior to 6,600 in the year since. According to a court representative, the number of marriages usually varies by less than 100 from one year [...]
Posted December 17th, 2010 by Robert Drago
Progressives have always had mixed emotions about breastfeeding. We support a healthy diet and natural living, and breastfeeding is as natural as it gets. We also have a low tolerance for chemical additives, including those found in infant formula. On the other hand, breastfeeding has been used to oppress women. Feminists recognized this in the [...]
Posted December 16th, 2010 by Robert Drago
Education, and particularly higher education, provides many individuals with hope for a better future. The power of this simple truism was brought home to me while working on Striking a Balance, when I discovered that the union for hotel workers in San Francisco (HERE Local 2) had developed a scholarship program to fund prep courses for [...]
Posted October 29th, 2010 by Robert Drago
by Robert Drago and Jeffrey Hayes New data collected for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) by Precision Opinion finds widespread support across party lines, gender, race and ethnicity for policies that will assist working families and protect workers’ rights, especially for low income workers. The majority of registered voters favor political candidates who [...]
Posted September 28th, 2010 by Robert Drago
The U.S. Government Accountability Office’s new glass ceiling report on women in management was just released by the Joint Economic Committee, and the news is bad. In a comparison of the years 2000 and 2007, women comprised 49% of non-managerial workers in both years, but their representation in management rose slightly from 39% to 40%. Although the [...]
Posted September 13th, 2010 by Robert Drago
Study findings released on September 1st claimed that women’s median earnings are higher than men’s in 147 out of 150 American communities. The claim comes with a few caveats, including the fact that the difference is all of 8 percent, and only holds for unmarried, childless women under 30. By Thursday, a report from IWPR on occupational segregation [...]
Posted August 8th, 2010 by Robert Drago
IWPR estimated the costs and benefits of paid sick days legislation currently under consideration in New York City. The analysis found the legislation would save around $11m annually due to a reduction in the spread of seasonal flu. That isn’t exactly chickenfeed for most New Yorkers, but the public health benefits associated with paid sick days are likely [...]
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